What A Wonderful World
by DestinedWriter
Summary: A new girl comes to Hogwarts during the gang's 4th year. The problem-she's going in as a 4th year with absolutely no magic abilities whatsoever, AND she's AMERICAN! Read and see how the trio deals with the situation and romance blooms...


Disclamer: I don't own any Harry Potter characters, so I'm only going to say it once! THEY ALL BELONG TO the WONDERFUL J.K Rowling. The only characters that are mine are Katie and other people that aren't included in the actual stories.  
  
1  
  
"Good morning! It's 11:32, and it's just sunny, sunny, sunny!" a voice announced over the radio. Katie jumped out of her bed minutes later to the sound of a loud crash that came from downstairs. After rubbing her eyes and trying to focus, she put on her slippers and headed down the steps.  
"Morning, sweetie-kins." her mother cheerfully said as she swept up glass bits into a dustpan. Katie just grunted and proceeded to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of orange juice, and gulped it down.  
"Oh! A letter came for you about an hour ago. Rather odd really...an owl delivered it." called her mom from the other room. Katie ignored her and walked back upstairs and to her room. She threw herself back on her bed, and stared at the clock on her bedside table, as if she wanted it to just get up and walk away. It wasn't that long before she started to doze off...  
  
"Katie. Katie!" a voice yelled. Katie was viontley shaken awake by her mom. She must have fallen asleep. It was 1:27 in the afternoon, and she was still in her P.J's!  
"Did you ever take that letter that I told you about?" her mother asked her, hands on her hips. Katie ruffled her dark brown hair and raised an eyebrow.  
"Letter?" she repeated, still half asleep. Her mother sighed and pulled out an envelope adressed to her. She had forgotten about the letter. Quickly, she grabbed it out of her mother's hands and put it on her desk, waiting for her leave. Finally getting the hint of awkward silence, she left. When her door was shut, Katie rushed to her desk, reached for the letter and tore it open. She read it quietly to herself.  
"Dear Ms. West,  
We are pleased to inform you that you are being transferred to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This may come as a bit of a shock, but don't fret. Your mother is clearly aware of this and has already gathered most of your school supplies. We will need you at the London Train Station and onto Platform 9 3/4 by 11 o'clock tomorrow. Enclosed is your tickect for the train. PLEASE DO NOT MISS IT! We will see you soon.  
Sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall"  
  
Katie blinked, rubbed her eyes and read it once more. There, was the same things written over again. Her mom knew? This didn't make any sense to her at all. Why hadn't her mother told her? It was all confusing her, making her head spin. What in the world was Platform 9 3/4--whas there even such a thing? And why did she need to go all the way across the world to London to get there? Was this some kind of sick joke?  
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Katie quickly got dresed, and ran downstairs. She saw her mom in the kitchen smiling brightly.  
"So...you knew about this?!" she burst out, keeping herself from throwing the letter at her mom. The smile grew on her mother's face.  
"I thought I would not say anything until the letter arrived for you first. Oh, I am so proud of you..." she replied, pulling her daughter into a hug. Katie gasped, trying to breathe as her mom squeezed her tightly.  
"M-mom...um...what is this about?" Katie said, putting the letter between their faces. Her mother let go of Katie and let out a huge sigh.  
"Your father...was a wizard. Yes, wizard. Magic, spells, wands, the list goes on and on. He graduated by the time he was 17 and then we met, but when I found out about his past, I decided we should not let you go to Magic schools. We just didn't want your life to change dramatically like that. Then your father died last year and...well, I decided that it was time to let you go to Hogwarts." she explained.  
"Mom, I'm 14! How long are we supposed to go to this school?" Katie asked, half irritated, half interested now. Her mother walked away as if she hadn't heard her question, poured herself some water, and came back.  
"Well...17...but you'll learn enough to graduate..." her mother quickly said in an innocent tone.  
"I've missed 3 years already?!" Katie yelled. She finally threw the letter half way across the room.  
"Yes..." her mom said, trying to change the subject, "Well now, we still need to get you your wand and your school pet. Oh! Anything else you would like to look at while we are there, you may. Off to Diagon Alley!"  
More confused than ever, Katie ran upsairs, trying to see if she could just plop herself on her bed again and wake up with her mom making another usual mess, and everything was normal again. But nothing changed. Everything was the same as it was 10 minutes ago. She was...a witch, about to go to a school called Hogwarts. Suddenly, she had just realized something. What about her friends? She was leaving them; now she would have no friends...she'd be by herself.  
"Snap ouf of it, you'll be fine." she told herself. After regaining her senses, she got ready for 'Diagon Alley'.  
  
"Are you ready?" her mother asked her as she reached the bottom step of the staircase.  
"Ugh..." Katie grunted and continued to the door, ready to head for their car.  
"No, no, no! We aren't taking the car, we're going to London, we would be there by next week if we did!" her mother yelled, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to the fire place.  
"Why are we at the fireplace?" Katie asked, rubbing the place on her arm where her mom had grabbed her.  
"There is a much faster way to get to London. Floo Powder." she said flatly.  
"Floo...Powder?" Katie repeated. Her mother shook her head, and took a deep breath.  
"It's a transportation network in the wizarding world. Your father showed me how to use it...now," she said, bringing out a container of what looked like fireplace ashes, "Grab a handfull, get in the fireplace, say where you want to go...in this case, you would say 'Diagon Alley', and throw the powder into the ashes. You'll get there in about 5 minutes at the most. Quite convinient, isn't it?" she explained. Katie just nodded to show she understood and grabbed some Floo Powder. She did exactly what her mother said and was no later traveling in a flash of green light and spinning in spirals. By the time she started getting dizzy, she was thrown out of a fireplace, and completely covered in ashes. She brushed herself off, and her hair, while she waited for her mother to come out of the fireplace as well. As soon as she did, she immediately started talking.  
"Now, I'm going into Flourish & Blotts, thats a book shop. Why don't you take a look around and see what you might want. Oh! You also need to stop by Ollivander's first, that is where you'll get your wand. Here's 500 galleons, now get going!" her mother said, motioning her to leave. Katie looked down the street, and did as her mom said; she headed for Ollivander's.  
She finally found the wand shop and stepped inside. An old man with white hair turned around from his old wooden desk to Katie. He made no intention to look and see who it was.  
"A wand, I suppose." he said briskly, looking down at a peice of blank parchment.  
"Y-yes, uh-sir." she stammered. The man looked up and smiled. A feeling of relief went through her body.  
"Of course! Every new Hogwarts student needs one!" he said brightly, "Now here, try this wand." he handed her a carved wooden oak 'stick'. She stared at it, fascinated, but had no idea what to do with it.  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave!" he said impatiently. She nodded and waved the wand in her hand and a little flash of red bursted out of the tip and headed for a shelf. There was a crash and the shelf was broken into peices. The man scrunched up his nose and shook his head.  
"Well, I suppose that won't do." he said, taking the wand from her and putting it back in the box. He grabbed another and removed it from it's wrapping. It was a beautiful crystal white wand. Katie couldn't help but feel a little giddy inside.  
"Here you go." he said as he handed her the wand. She gave it a quick brisk wave and a spark of silver light came out of the tip and swirled around the shop. It finally stopped and dissappeared. The old man nodded, as if he was thinking to himself.  
"All right, that's settled." he said. Katie looked confused and felt pretty stupid now.  
"What's settled?" she asked.  
"This is your wand now. It's amazing how you only had to go through 1 wand to find it. Quite brilliant, I must say. None of my customers has ever found their wand so quickly." he explained, while Katie looked fascinated.  
"Now then," he continued, "that comes to a total of 3 galleons." he said as she handed him the money. Katie walked out of the store, after saying her thanks to the old man. 


End file.
